Why You Need Something to Look Forward to Right Now

What if the missing ingredient in your well-being isn't more time, fewer responsibilities, or a completely different life?

What if it's simply having something to look forward to?

In this episode, we're exploring one of the most overlooked contributors to emotional well-being: anticipation.

Research suggests that looking forward to something meaningful can boost happiness even before the experience happens. Yet somewhere between managing responsibilities, coordinating everyone else's schedules, and simply getting through the week, many women stop creating things they're genuinely excited about.

If life has been feeling a little flat lately—or you've found yourself moving from one responsibility to the next without much joy in between—this conversation is for you.

In this episode, we'll explore:

• Why anticipation plays such an important role in emotional well-being
• The surprising reason planning can be just as rewarding as the experience itself
• How busy, capable women often lose the habit of creating things to look forward to
• Simple ideas—from everyday moments to bigger adventures—that can reignite joy and curiosity
• A practical challenge to help you intentionally create more anticipation this week, this month, and this season

You don't need to reinvent your life to feel more alive.

Sometimes all it takes is giving yourself something beautiful to anticipate.

If this episode encouraged you, I'd love to hear what's on your calendar. Send me a message on Instagram and tell me: What are you looking forward to right now?

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Take the quiz: Are You a Gifted Woman?
• Sign up to receive my Sanctuary Letters
• Book a complimentary Flourishing Call if you're curious about working together
• Follow me on Instagram: @dr.andrealein
• Learn more: andrealein.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So the other day I realized we're already very well into the summer. And it got me thinking about something I've noticed in both my own life and in the women I work with. We often assume that what we need is more time, more energy, or fewer responsibilities. But sometimes, sometimes, what we're actually missing in the equation is something to look forward to. Something that creates anticipation, something that sparks our curiosity, something that reminds us that life isn't just about getting through our to-do list. Can I get an amen? So today I want to talk about why anticipation matters so much for our well-being and a few simple ways to create more of it in your own life. Welcome to the Power to Flourish podcast, where science meets the art of a beautiful life. I'm Dr. Andrea Lyme, positive psychologist, giftedness expert and coach, and modern-day spiritual godmother to brilliant, deep-feeling women. This isn't just another self-help podcast. It's a sanctuary, a sacred space to come back to yourself. Each week we'll explore the emotional experience of gifted, sensitive women and what it means to live a life that feels as beautiful as it may look. Because flourishing isn't a luxury. And your life is waiting. This is the Power to Flourish Podcast. So sometimes we underestimate the importance of anticipation. And many of you are planners and you love to plan and you have all sorts of things planned out into your calendar for like the next six to nine months, which is awesome. And actually, some of the research around vacation, taking trips on vacation, is the anticipation that there is more joy and well-being that we get out of the anticipation of the trip than there is oftentimes of the trip itself. Which, for those of you, I was talking to a mom a few weeks ago where their family went on a beach vacation and she was processing with us that she had all of these images of what it was going to be. It was her first like beach vacation and she has four little ones. And she's like, what I realized was I was just parenting four little ones near bodies of water, which was just, you know, we can all laugh because obviously that's stressful. But the anticipation of the trip, I'm sure, brought her a lot of joy. Uh, maybe more so than some of the challenges in the moment. But this is a really important concept. And I try my best to incorporate this really intentionally into my life. I don't always do it a great job of it, but I wanted to share a few examples. Again, they can be big things like a big trip you're planning, or it could just be something small. So as I record this, we're in the middle of summer, right? And I'm thinking already, okay, what about as we transition out of the summer and into the fall? What are some things I can look forward to? I like the summer, and my summer happens to be really full this year, but I know there will be a part of me that is anticipating sort of a slower schedule come fall, which is lovely in and of itself. So those are those small things like maybe, you know, the cozy mornings with my coffee in my favorite coffee shop, or maybe just like a Saturday drive to a nearby town. Sometimes my husband and I like to drive like a little bit out of town and just go to a coffee shop we don't normally go to. It might sound silly, but I I'm someone that really, really loves novelty. And so as much as I love traveling faraway places, I like traveling, you know, even just around my own town. Now, for us and our in our family's plans, my husband and I have not done aside from going to Hawaii many times to visit my daughter, um, our daughter and granddaughter, which is always so much fun. It's so much fun. It never gets old to me. So I do have, I don't have a trip to Hawaii planned yet, but I do have uh a visit scheduled with them because they're gonna come out to the East Coast at some point. So that's really fun. I get to look forward to that. But my husband and I have not done a proper, I put it in quotes, a proper anniversary trip in quite a while. I think because life has gotten busy and the priority has been to go to Hawaii to visit our family. Um, it's just taken away time and energy and resources to do other trips. So we are planning a trip to hopefully Europe for our anniversary this fall, which is so fun because we the last time we did a Europe trip, it was probably about a decade ago. It's been, it's been a while. So I love going. Um honestly, I could just pick a place out of a hat, and it doesn't probably really matter where it is, I'll have a good time. So we are currently planning that, which is really fun to have that to look forward to. And again, all the things, this is what I like to do. Probably many of you like to do the same thing, but like making your Pinterest board or gathering, you know, like making your little vision board, getting together the ideas, talking about it over dinner, you know, this is the anticipation part of it. It's not just like the onerous, the logistical planning. It's the anticipation, it's the emotional experience of having something really fun to look forward to. And if you don't, then, you know, ask yourself, why? Why, why am I not doing this? Another thing, like, again, it could be simple. I have like people, friends in town that I'm not gonna get to see as much this summer because I'm traveling to see other friends in other places, which is great. But I know I will really appreciate coming back into town and getting into some rhythm. So potentially in September, I might have like a little, like a little mini weekend getaway time with some friends like locally, who I ironically won't get to see as much this summer. Even little things like lunches with people, close friends, or maybe even like colleagues or acquaintances, just people you want to keep in touch with. For me, I do look forward to those things. Other things like that, maybe don't sound as again, it doesn't have to be a big thing like a European vacation, although it does make me excited. It could be, for example, like a networking event. Now, you may dread networking events, so maybe this is not an a good example. But for me, I historically, honestly, as a more introverted person, networking events as they sometimes are crafted, I don't necessarily love, but in in a certain respect or in certain places, like the depending on how it's done, I really love it because it puts me in touch with people important or people I haven't even met yet, like in my work life. And that that's exciting and fun for me. I look forward to that. That that's something I can anticipate. So anyway, it could be books you want to read in the fall that you're not, you know. I know in summer we think we're gonna read lots of books, but maybe it's like a different, a different kind of thing in the fall. Whatever it might be for you, it doesn't really matter exactly what it is. But like I said earlier, the joy, this is what's so interesting to me. The joy, while it may come from the experience itself, and it likely does, a lot of it comes from anticipating it. Okay. So just to highlight it, the anticipation is what boosts well-being. So again, I'm making this episode a little shorter today. It's July, and I want to keep things short and sweet for you and short and sweet for me. So, why do we as women sometimes lose this? Like, where does it get lost? Now, again, you may be someone who's great at planning and you put those things on the calendar and you've always got something to look forward to. And if that's you, awesome. Spread your wisdom to the rest of us who might struggle with this. But I think some of the really normal things that get in the way is just simply life becomes logistical. Now, you might be a planner and you might be getting all the logistics done, but you might not be letting yourself savor the emotional experience of it. That might be you. Um, where we get really busy coordinating everyone else's lives, especially if we have children or we lead, you know, an organization that's really, really normal and common and kind of like sucks the joy out of planning and anticipating. And ironically, we're always looking at what's next. So that seems like, well, wouldn't that be anticipation? But sometimes, but like I said, if you're always looking at what's next in this like fraught kind of way where it's like, oh my gosh, what's the next thing on my to-do list? Like that's definitely not the energy of anticipating something with joy and excitement, right? So simply stated, like a lot of the times, just all of our responsibilities crowd out our anticipation. So that's an issue. And somewhere along the way, probably for you, you just stopped even creating things that you're excited about. And that can be right, it's not just like having experiences, but maybe it's something you create. And the anticipation of that is what is the emotional juice that you know boosts your well-being. So let me give you some practical things, like what counts as something to look forward to, right? Again, I I gave you some examples of what I'm doing in my life, but here are things, they do not have to be expensive, they don't have to be time consuming. Literally, they could be teeny teeny teeny tiny, like, like I said, a coffee date. And now coffee is getting more expensive these days, but you could have a friend over to your house and brew some coffee, right? If if it's if it's the finances. You could go to the library and check out a new book. You could go for a morning walk with a friend or have it scheduled on the calendar even better. Um, like go to a place that you don't always get to go or a place that you really love, but you don't get to go all the time for a walk with someone that you enjoy. That is wonderful. I love putting that on the calendar. Um, maybe it's a movie night. I forget to do movies, honestly. I'm just such a um, I don't have the habit of sitting down, whether that's in my house to watch a movie or going to the movie theater. And so it's not normal for me, but when I like have it planned out and it's something, again, nice and easy and fun. Maybe it's with your spouse or a good friend, and you're maybe you have a movie night out that's even more fun. Maybe it's like going to the farmer's market and you don't even have to buy anything, but it's just fun and you have it on the calendar, and that's something that you can anticipate going. So that's like a teeny tiny start, doesn't take a lot of finances. If you're looking for something that's like, okay, I do those things, that sounds great, but what's like a next next level up, right? What if you planned a day trip or even like a half day trip? Doesn't have to be super far away. Like I said, sometimes I like to like look at the surrounding areas within driving distance, like I don't know, an hour or less driving distance around where you live and say, like, is there a place you have not really explored? Most likely there is, right? Maybe there's a concert that is coming up this fall. So many good concerts. I like, I again, I forget to do this, but I love live music. So when I think to start searching, or even now in the middle of the summer, right? People are posting like the tours that are coming up. Oh, so fun, so fun. Maybe it's a girls' weekend. And again, it doesn't have to be like a long four or five day thing. Maybe it's literally one night over somewhere, and you guys just book a hotel room and you stay up and giggle and talk till three in the morning, or do whatever you want to do. Maybe someone comes over to your house and you have a sleepover at your place. And maybe it's like a hiking adventure. I have a friend who actually just did a, I think it was like a three-day hiking group with like a bunch of women, which sounds so fun. Although it's summertime right now, so I don't know how excited I would be about hiking for three days in the middle of the summer in the south, but fall all day long. Okay. And so, and then finally, like some bigger ideas, like I already referenced, like a vacation, of course. But here's the key really don't just plan. You know, maybe it's vacation, maybe it's like a visit to see your family. Like, don't just put it on the calendar. Get yourself in the emotional state of anticipation. So if you're not, ask yourself why. What are you not doing in the planning part that like you're you're doing all the logistical planning, but you're you're not tapping into the emotional piece, which is really the best part of it. If you're gonna plan all that stuff, right? Tap into that part. Maybe it's even a retreat. I've done women's retreats in the past, they're so fun. Maybe it's not a women's retreat, maybe it's something totally different, but you get the idea. You can definitely plan something larger for later in the year. And the goal isn't, let me just be clear. The goal is not necessarily to like the bigger the better. Absolutely not. I'm just giving you different ideas. Um, if you're looking at your calendar right now and you're like, I don't know what to anticipate, and I don't know what I want to do or what I could do. So I'm just giving you some ideas. So my summer list, as I already said, like there's the big thing for me is this European vacation with my husband for our anniversary. That's sometime our anniversary is September 30th. So we usually try to go sometime in late September, early October. Hopefully that will happen sometime with my granddaughter. Definitely is gonna happen in the late summer, going into the fall. And then hopefully we'll be planning something again for even later in the year, like around the holidays. I haven't figured out all the holidays yes, but it's the middle of the summer, so I haven't gotten all of that, you know, dialed in, but that's definitely gonna be going on the calendar. I have, like I said, I have time with specific friends locally. I already planned a lot of things this past this for the summer to see old friends. And so that will be nice to kind of like get back into things. And the other thing that I really you might think this is a silly thing to anticipate, but I look forward in the fall when hopefully my life kind of settles in just a little bit more. I love the routine of the fall, even though I don't have children that go back to school. Like I, in my head, am I like perpetually a child going back to school in September? I don't know if you can relate, but I love the the structure of that. And so for me, even though I've been pretty good through this summer um being flexible, I don't necessarily have access to my gym like back home because I'm traveling a lot, but I'm trying to be consistent with my workout routine. But when I'm at home and I have access to all of my normal, you know, resources, I I love that because I and I do anticipate that. That is something I definitely look forward to. And then this fall, I already know I have a really new work-related project. Um, it's a it's actually a course that I'm gonna be helping to teach later this fall. So this summer I'm, you know, reading through the books and going through the curriculum and and sort of like this is a new thing, again, novelty. And so even though it's work-related, it is totally lighting me up because I'm so excited to do it. And it's going to be with a brand new group of women and a new community on the West Coast. And so I I'm just really excited about that, the planning of it. And then, like again, this is an example of it's it's work, but for me, it it's like it's fun, you know? So you could have things that are work-related. This does not have to be just, you know, vacation mode, but something that truly lights you up. Any of these things, that's my list. So I want to challenge you as I wrap up today's shorty episode to find something, one thing that you can put on your calendar for the end of this week. This weekend if you want. Something to enjoy and look forward to. Like, like I said, maybe it's a walk with a friend, maybe it's a date night with your spouse, maybe it's a fun movie night with the family. I don't know, but don't just put it on the calendar. I want you to like make sure you are excited about it and then feel the feeling. This is the savoring, this is the anticipation, like looking forward to it. That is the boost. The other thing is what is one thing that you can put on the calendar to anticipate this month? Have fun. Have fun with this this month. And then lastly, one thing you are excited about for this fall. And if you can't think of something to be excited about for the fall, then my friend, I am lovingly encouraging you to take any of the things that I listed in today's episode and pick one that sounds fun to you and plan it for the fall. That's it. One thing this week, one thing this month, one thing for the fall. And if you have been feeling a little flat lately or like you're just stuck in your routine and, you know, life has just become mostly responsibilities. I want to encourage you that I don't think the answer is necessarily a complete reinvention. Sometimes we feel like we just have to get a new job, a new family, a new, you know, live in a new place, right? We do not always have to do that. We don't have to be quite so dramatic about it. Sometimes, oftentimes, the answer is much smaller. Sometimes it is giving yourself something to look forward to because anticipation has a way of reminding us that there is still beauty, possibility, and delight ahead. So that is my encouragement and my action plan for you this week. I hope you have a fabulous week. And as always, I will see you here next week. And until then, keep flourishing. Thank you for listening to the Power to Flourish podcast. I hope today's conversation left you feeling more seen, more supported, and more deeply connected to yourself. And if this episode resonated, would you take a moment to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with a friend? It's one of the best ways to help this work reach the women who need it most. You'll find show notes, links, and resources from today's episode at powertoflourish.com. And now just a quick reminder: this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It's not therapy, medical advice, or substitute for professional support. Listening doesn't make me your therapist or doctor. If you're looking for a coach, you know where to find me. All right, beautiful. That's it for now. Until next time. Trust yourself, honor your guests.